Lawyer for Weymouth man with apartment full of ammo seeks to have evidence thrown out

A lawyer for a Weymouth man acused of illegally possessing firearms and explosives is seeking to have all of the weapons and ammunition seized at the scene dismissed as evidence because police did not have a proper search warrant when they entered his client’s apartment.

A lawyer for a Weymouth man awaiting trial on firearms and explosives possession charges is seeking to have weapons seized from his client’s home dismissed as evidence because police did not have a search warrant.

Peter Cantelli was indicted in March after police seized several military-grade guns, gunpowder and a device connected to a fuse from his apartment at the Avalon Ledges complex in Weymouth.

“There was no justification for the unlawful search of the defendant’s apartment by the police, nor for the police seizure of the defendant’s guns and property and all evidence flowing therefrom,” reads the motion, which was filed in court Dec. 3 by attorney Robert Tutino. “The police were simply acting unlawfully – in a manner reminiscent of the unlawful searches carried on by British redcoats in colonial homes immediately preceding the outbreak of the American Revolution.”

A hearing on the motion to suppress will be held Jan. 22 in Norfolk Superior Court. A spokesman for District Attorney William Keating declined to comment on the motion but said a response would be filed.

In the days following the police search of his home, Cantelli, 49, was indicted on four counts of improperly storing a firearm and one count of possessing an infernal (explosive) machine. He is being held in jail, a judge having deemed him a danger to the community.

A note found in his apartment indicated that Cantelli was going to kill people if his demands were not met, police said in court. The demands were not specified in court.

Tutino’s 17-page motion focuses on the moments just before police entered Cantelli’s apartment. Weymouth police accompanied a constable who had been sent to the apartment to affix a device that would control a heavy flow of natural gas that was going into Cantelli’s unit.

Tutino argues that although only the constable had the legal authority to enter Cantelli’s apartment in this circumstance, police entered, without a warrant. Police obtained a warrant to continue their search after discovering the firearms.

Cantelli, who uses a wheelchair and had a handgun on his hip at the time of the incident, asserts in a court affidavit that he was preparing his guns to go to a shooting range that day. Tutino states that Cantelli was not under arrest at the time police searched the apartment, although he was handcuffed.

Tutino also argues that Cantelli never consented to the police search and that there was no emergency to justify it.

The filing also states that Cantelli has firearms licenses from the Weymouth police and the state police of New Hampshire, plus a federal firearms license. Tutino says all of the guns seized from the apartment were properly licensed.